Jephthah Delivers Israel

11 Now ^(A)Jephthah the Gileadite was ^(B)a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. ² And Gilead's wife also bore him sons. And when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman.” ³ Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of ^(C)Tob, and ^(D)worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him.

⁴ After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel. ⁵ And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of ^(E)Tob. ⁶ And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the Ammonites.” ⁷ But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?” ⁸ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the Ammonites and ^(F)be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” ⁹ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them over to me, I will be your head.” ¹⁰ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, ^(G)“The Lord will be witness between us, if we do not do as you say.” ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people ^(H)made him head and leader over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words ^(I)before the Lord at ^(J)Mizpah.

¹² Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites and said, “What do you have against me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” ¹³ And the king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, ^(K)“Because Israel on coming up from Egypt took away my land, from the ^(L)Arnon to the ^(M)Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably.” ¹⁴ Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites ¹⁵ and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: ^(N)Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites, ¹⁶ but when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness ^(O)to the Red Sea and ^(P)came to Kadesh. ^17 (Q)Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ ^(R)but the king of Edom would not listen. And they sent also to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel ^(S)remained at Kadesh.

¹⁸ “Then they journeyed through the wilderness and ^(T)went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab and ^(U)arrived on the east side of the land of Moab and ^(V)camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab. ^19 (W)Israel then sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to our country,’ ²⁰ but Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory, so Sihon gathered all his people together and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel. ²¹ And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country. ²² And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. ²³ So then the Lord, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them? ²⁴ Will you not possess what ^(X)Chemosh your god gives you to possess? ^(Y)And all that the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess. ²⁵ Now are you any better than ^(Z)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend against Israel, or did he ever go to war with them? ²⁶ While Israel lived ^(AA)in Heshbon and its villages, and ^(AB)in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, 300 years, why did you not deliver them within that time? ²⁷ I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong by making war on me. ^(AC)The Lord, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon.” ²⁸ But the king of the Ammonites did not listen to the words of Jephthah that he sent to him.

Jephthah's Tragic Vow

^29 (AD)Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. ³⁰ And Jephthah ^(AE)made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, ³¹ then whatever^[a] comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites ^(AF)shall be the Lord's, and ^(AG)I will offer it^[b] up for a burnt offering.” ³² So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand. ³³ And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of ^(AH)Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.

³⁴ Then Jephthah came to his home at ^(AI)Mizpah. And behold, his daughter came out to meet him ^(AJ)with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child; besides her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵ And as soon as he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, ^(AK)and I cannot take back my vow.” ³⁶ And she said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the Lord; do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has avenged you on your enemies, on the Ammonites.” ³⁷ So she said to her father, “Let this thing be done for me: leave me alone two months, that I may go up and down on the mountains and weep for my virginity, I and my companions.” ³⁸ So he said, “Go.” Then he sent her away for two months, and she departed, she and her companions, and wept for her virginity on the mountains. ³⁹ And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, ^(AL)who did with her according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel ⁴⁰ that the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year.

Jephthah's Conflict with Ephraim

12 ^(AM)The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.” ² And Jephthah said to them, “I and my people had a great dispute with the Ammonites, and when I called you, you did not save me from their hand. ³ And when I saw that you would not save me, ^(AN)I took my life in my hand and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?” ⁴ Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, ^(AO)“You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.” ⁵ And the Gileadites captured ^(AP)the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me go over,” the men of Gilead said to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” When he said, “No,” ⁶ they said to him, “Then say Shibboleth,” and he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at ^(AQ)the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.

⁷ Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead.^[c]

Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

⁸ After him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. ⁹ He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters he gave in marriage outside his clan, and thirty daughters he brought in from outside for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. ¹⁰ Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem.

¹¹ After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years. ¹² Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

¹³ After him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. ¹⁴ He had forty ^(AR)sons and thirty grandsons, who ^(AS)rode on seventy donkeys, and he judged Israel eight years. ¹⁵ Then Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

The Birth of Samson

13 And the people of Israel again ^(AT)did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them ^(AU)into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

² There was a certain man of ^(AV)Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. ^(AW)And his wife was barren and had no children. ^3 (AX)And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. ⁴ Therefore be careful ^(AY)and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, ⁵ for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. ^(AZ)No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be ^(BA)a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall ^(BB)begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁶ Then the woman came and told her husband, ^(BC)“A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. ^(BD)I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, ⁷ but he said to me, ^(BE)‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

⁸ Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.” ⁹ And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰ So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.” ¹¹ And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.” ¹² And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, ^(BF)what is to be the child's manner of life, and what is his mission?” ¹³ And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. ¹⁴ She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, ^(BG)neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.”

¹⁵ Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you and ^(BH)prepare a young goat for you.” ¹⁶ And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.) ¹⁷ And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, ^(BI)“What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?” ¹⁸ And the angel of the Lord said to him, ^(BJ)“Why do you ask my name, seeing ^(BK)it is wonderful?” ¹⁹ So ^(BL)Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works^[d] wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. ²⁰ And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, ^(BM)and they fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹ The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. ^(BN)Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. ²² And Manoah said to his wife, ^(BO)“We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” ²³ But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.” ²⁴ And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. ^(BP)And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. ^25 (BQ)And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between ^(BR)Zorah and Eshtaol.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

9 And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to ^(A)his own city. ^2 (B)And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus ^(C)saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ^(D)“Take heart, my son; ^(E)your sins are forgiven.” ³ And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, ^(F)“This man is blaspheming.” ⁴ But Jesus, ^(G)knowing^[a] their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? ⁵ For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? ⁶ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” ⁷ And he rose and went home. ⁸ When the crowds saw it, ^(H)they were afraid, and ^(I)they glorified God, who had ^(J)given such authority to men.

Jesus Calls Matthew

^9 (K)As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called ^(L)Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁰ And as Jesus^[b] reclined at table in the house, behold, many ^(M)tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. ¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ^(N)“Why does your teacher eat with ^(O)tax collectors and sinners?” ¹² But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ Go and learn ^(P)what this means: ^(Q)‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For ^(R)I came not to call the righteous, ^(S)but sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁴ Then ^(T)the disciples of John came to him, saying, ^(U)“Why do we and ^(V)the Pharisees fast,^[c] but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵ And Jesus said to them, ^(W)“Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? ^(X)The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^(Y)then they will fast. ¹⁶ No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. ¹⁷ Neither is new wine put into old ^(Z)wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

^18 (AA)While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and ^(AB)knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” ¹⁹ And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. ²⁰ And behold, a woman ^(AC)who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched ^(AD)the fringe of his garment, ²¹ for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” ²² Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ^(AE)“Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” ^(AF)And instantly^[d] the woman was made well. ²³ And when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw ^(AG)the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, ²⁴ he said, “Go away, for ^(AH)the girl is not dead but ^(AI)sleeping.” And they laughed at him. ²⁵ But ^(AJ)when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and ^(AK)took her by the hand, and the girl arose. ²⁶ And the report of this went through all that district.

Jesus Heals Two Blind Men

^27 (AL)And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, ^(AM)Son of David.” ²⁸ When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” ^29 (AN)Then he touched their eyes, saying, ^(AO)“According to your faith be it done to you.” ³⁰ And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, ^(AP)“See that no one knows about it.” ^31 (AQ)But they went away and spread his fame through all that district.

Jesus Heals a Man Unable to Speak

³² As they were going away, behold, a ^(AR)demon-oppressed man who was mute ^(AS)was brought to him. ³³ And when the demon had been cast out, the mute man spoke. And the crowds ^(AT)marveled, saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.” ³⁴ But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”

The Harvest Is Plentiful, the Laborers Few

^35 (AU)And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. ^36 (AV)When he saw the crowds, ^(AW)he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, ^(AX)like sheep without a shepherd. ^37 (AY)Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸ therefore ^(AZ)pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to ^(BA)send out laborers into his harvest.”